Project Management Process in Municipality †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Project Management Process in Municipality. Answer: Introduction Apple is an American leading IT corporation that forms one the most existing profitable and social influencing companies around the globe (Zich 2014). In the year 1976, Steve Jobs came up with a computer oriented organization that later assumed the name Apple Company. The company deals with the manufacture, production, and supply of varied products starting from homes and business to entertainments sectors (Hands 2013). Due to its constant production of high-tech items, the company has gained consumers satisfaction and loyalty in the whole world. In this study, the paper reflects on the nature of the global technology business with a focus on the critical threats and opportunities as well as the perceived strengths and weaknesses that directly or indirectly affect the performance of the company. The paper as well reflects on the competitive strategies adopted by the company with a focus on innovation because there are many other global organizations such as Google Inc that offer stif f competition in the world market. The paper concludes by evaluating the possible direction the company is likely to take to remain sustainable and competitive in the next ten years of its operation. Key opportunities and threats in the current environment of the Apple Inc Although Apple Company has made it to the market share against other competitors, it faces major threats such as; aggressive potential companies, threats of substitute products, imitations and rising labor cost in other countries that host the Apple plants (Linick 2014). Many businesses tend to copy the Apple products and launch them in the market, an imitation trend that has made the company to have some numerous court cases. Such of the imitations are like the replica case of Samsung, producing a similar Apple device caused both companies to end up in a court tussle that has taken many years and caused billions of shillings. Such imitations have tried to create a bad image to Apple since many customers get disappointed when they buy and later find out that it is a counterfeit. Such disappointments always reduce the customer satisfaction hence reducing the client's loyalty to the company. Rivalry among Companies such as Samsung and LG creates a stiff competition in the market by producing cheaper products than the Apples products (Linick 2014). The low cost of the substitute products such as LG and Motorola tends to offer stiff competition to the Apples products hence reducing the sales of the company. The competition makes the Apple Company struggle to keep the pace and being the most market commander in future. Such competition always drops the sales of a company, hence may alter the market share percentage if not well addressed. Apple has launched its plants in other countries such as China that laid many policies known as Foreign Enterprises Income Tax Law to protect domestic companies, provided less preferential policies for the foreign enterprises (Schulte 2011, p. 8). The Chinese system offered a platform for piracy; this made Apple face more risks on Apple products in China. China did also charge a high rate of license on the foreign enterprises. These high fees propagated the increase of running cost of Apple firms to be greater than the income making them unstable in the local markets. Both the high degree of government charge and reduced sales tends to reduce the profit level and increase the Apples dominance in the market may not last long form such stiff competition from Samsung since the market command gap is small Apple Company has potential opportunities that determine its future. They are also known to involve various external factors such as the expansion of distribution network, increasing demand for the tablets and Smartphones, and the creation of new products (Korkeamaki Takalo 2012).The unavailability of Apples products to lower class people gives the company a better opportunity to develop new affordable products and expand its distribution network to reach the lower class. The company can achieve this through making more simplified products such as Apple watch, which is profitable to the lower class people. The move will not only expand its innovativeness but will also increase its market command with other competitive companies such as Samsung. In a systematic review, Lynch (2011) points out that this Taiwan semiconductor manufacturer a renowned Taiwan company that leads in fables semiconductors producer is believable to be the only supplier of the A1 Fusion chips used in powering the series of the smartphone on Apples current iPhone 7. The same study denotes that it is the sole manufacturer of A10XFshion chips created within the Apples newly released 12.9-inch and 10.5-inch iPad Pro models. However, it is as well expected to be the only manufacturer of the A11 Fusion processors used in powering iPhone 7s, 7+, as well as the premium OLED iPhone. With all these chances and market opportunities in the iPhone products, the company has attracted more investors who view that the company has much more opportunities to improve in the productions and distribution in the entire market making it more and stronger. In another study, Korkeamaki and Takalo (2012) denote that the company has a record of high-performance computers. Starting with its 7-nanometer generation of technology, the market for high- performance computing devices has proven to be in real growth. The company is a contract manufacturer, therefore, does not design products for specific market segments but instead develops various manufacturing technologies, an aspect that many technologists value as a marvelous canvas in the technology business. Linik (2014) also denotes that market is full of customers who are aggressively going for the high-performance products in the market such as virtual reality, deep learning accelerators, as well as data center processors among others. Apples market share has increased due to the introduction of the iPhone that had numbers of consumer electronic features. These aspects peg the total addressable market for the company between $10 billion to 11.5% in 2017, but us as well expected to grow w ith a margin of 10% annually. Perceived strengths and weaknesses of the Apple Inc Apples strengths lie on the internal strategic factors that are the high brand image, high-profit margin, and effective innovation process and strong market strategy. Apples brand is one of the most powerful and most popular in the world hence it has enjoyed high profits from a large volume of sales made per annum through strategically maintaining the premium price( Toth 2016). The constant rapid, innovative strategy of apples enables it to keep at par with the fast development of technology pushing them to launch new products into the market. The strong brand image makes the company successful in introducing many of the new products without fear of disappointing their customers. Apple App Store that offers a marketplace for the customers to buy applications for the tablets and computers, hence preventing entry of malicious applications to the products. The internal strategic factors that cause Apples weaknesses are such as limited distribution, high selling prices of the products and limited sales to the high-end market (Wright 2012, p. 90). Apple Company has an insufficient distribution network that causes by the companys restrictive policy. The same study as well denotes that the company tends to exclude some of the retailers and prefer specific ones. With that system, there is reduced distribution channel of the enterprise. Hence the products are not reachable to other people who may want to buy them. The selling strategy of the Apple Company is directed mostly to specific classes such as the upper and the middle. The approach makes the products to be more expensive than the lower class cannot afford. Therefore they experience limited customer target. Apple has always depended on the sale of iPhone that has increased in the few years to about 52% in 2015 as pointed out by Zich (2014, p. 45). Overdependence on one product makes it vulnerable to changes in the Smartphone market since its products targets only the well-off individuals and developed regions. For Apple to avoid revenue challenges in the future, it must introduce new cheap smartphones such as smart-watches and others to maintain the changing emerging economies. Competitive Analysis of the Company in the innovation perspective The apple marketing, advertising capabilities and great budget of over US$ 2 billion that has continued creating awareness of the brand have created an increase in demand (Linick 2014). The marketing and advertising strategy of not selling the products but inviting the customers to come and experience the Apple lifestyle and become the part of the iPod community have helped in catching more customers. The company has trained its staffs, not to major on selling the products rather than they should focus on building on customer relationship and trying to make their lives more enjoyable. The leadership style that has been practiced by Steve Jobs has also led it to achieve employees confidence as pointed out by Schulte (2011, p. 89). Steve Jobs ensured a strong corporate culture among all the staff, whereby they are required to be innovative, fast-paced, and committed to the tasks. Apple initially depended on the potential retail shops to distribute their products, but it opened up a store lately like in Tysons Corner (Wright 2012).The locations of most of the stores are in high-traffic positions hence able to reach to more customers hence making more sales. Evangelism of the companys products has helped it to gain more access to more customers. The companys successful evangelism from dedicated employees, retailers and potential customers has contributed to spreading the Apples good gospel to others. Hence apple was able to create what is called Mac cult to refer to loyal customers (Lynch 2011). The vertical integration of Apple Company is very efficient that can manage four separate businesses, which are hardware, software, service and retail providers with ease (Zich 2014). The single control of all the supply chains makes it more prominent since there is no other company can do that with ease. The active Apples distribution channels in the United States have earned it the market command it is enjoying currently (Hands 2013). The company has multiple distributions channels that deliver the products to customers with the shortest period possible. It has also built many retail shops and storage shops on various busy streets to ease the accessibility by clients. Apple has great indirect distribution channels like the Amazon Market that assist online purchases. For the company to achieve global market command in future, then it has to increase its stores and plants in all parts of the world. Diversity on innovation has made the company to grow to the current situation (Korkeamaki Takalo 2012, p. 9). It started by producing computers and then later diversified its innovativeness to a large number of attractive items such as iPhone the latest mobile phone. The simplicity of the Apples products has attracted so many customers more than the substitute products. The company focuses more on improving complicated items and making them easier to use. Just like it never invented the PC, the Mp3 player nor downloadable music but, Steve Jobs borrowed the ideas from companies like Sony and improved on them to simple usage methods. The direction of the Apple in the next ten years According to SWOT analysis, Apple future lies in both the external and internal factors that dictate its daily operations (Zich 2014). The external factors include political and legal, economic, socio-cultural, technological, global and demographic factors. The economic factors dictate the future by offering a wider market for its products. The company will only survive when it proves to be stronger than the competitors; this is achievable through the production of more varied price friendly products that are distributable to less economical regions. With that move, there will be an increase in both the Apple productions, sales and market coverage hence making it stronger than competitors. The socio-cultural factors keep on changing everyday as life becomes more and more digital. Since computers and phones have become part and parcel of life, their demand have increased and still continue to do so in most of the homes, government institutions, schools and even in personal life increa sing the opportunity to produce more products in the next ten years( Linick 2014). The technological increase in the globe dictates all the stake holders to update their game to meet the customers preferences. Apples capability to design customized products to customers makes it more preferable to the market with young individuals who are more conscious to colors, features, and sizes. The entry of strong competitors and existent of such companies like Samsung, Dell, HP continue making access to customers more than Apple firm (Linick 2014). The firms are providing varied and cheap products that are with features related to the Apple phones. These products are more marketable in the less economical regions hence creating a stronger market than Apples expensive products; as a result, the future market command of Apple will weaken and probably get displaced. The future solution of the Apple firm lies on diversifying their products that are less expensive and varied to strengthen its consumer electronic market. The internal factors that see the future success of Apple are like the strong management team, which has outsourced most of the manufacturing and logistical that have and are continuing to aid the success of Apples distribution of products to the potential market (Zich 2014). Another internal factor is the financial stability of the company which makes it stronger even in the competitive market. The innovation spirit of the staffs and employment of the Think Differently philosophy has enabled it to be realistic in the future market as they are producing new consumer electronic products (Schulte 2011). The focused advertising strategy of Apples firm having been productive and will continue. Apple spent a lot of money more than any competitor to build its image and reputation therefore with their financial stability they are very capable of doing everything to continue and increase what they are in the next ten years. Conclusion From the above analysis, it is evident that there is a stiff competition in the global market on technology and related innovations. It is hence necessary for every company to adopt strategies that can ensure it stands out in the market. Despite the still market competition, Apple has a significant market share, an advantage that it enjoys since it is the sole producer of various iPhone products in the global market. As a result, it has attracted more investors as well as customers who value its high performing products. List of References Hands, A, 2013, Tech Services on the Web: Apps for the IPHONE (Part One) https://www.apple.com/iphone/. Technical Services Quarterly, 31(1), pp.79-80. Korkeamaki, T. Takalo, T, 2012, Valuation of Innovation: The Case of Iphone. SSRN Electronic Journal. Linick, M, 2014, Measuring Competition: Inconsistent Definitions, Inconsistent Results. Education Policy Analysis Archives. Lynch, P, 2011, iPhone Apps for the Workplace. Biomedical Instrumentation Technology, 45(1), pp.10-11. Lynch, P. (2011). iPhone Apps for the Workplace. Biomedical Instrumentation Technology, 45(1), pp.10-11. Mohammad Arabzadan, S, 2012, Improving Project Management Process in Municipality Based on SWOT Analysis. International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 4(5), pp.607-612. Schulte, C, 2011, Book Review: iPhone and IOS Forensics: Investigation, Analysis and Mobile Security for Apple iPhone, iPad and IOS Devices. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law. Tth, G, 2016, Az Apple titok, avagy mit?l szeretetmrka az Apple? = The secret of Apple, so what makes Apple a lovemark?. E-conom, V(1). Wright, A, 2012, Analyzing Apple products. Communications of the ACM, 55(1), p.27. Zich, R, 2014, Analysis of company success potential from the point of view of success-ability. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 57(6), pp.343-350.